Stephanie Ericsson's Macbeth: The Ways We Lie
The Ways Lady Macbeth Lies People fib every single day, consciously and unconsciously. Sometimes the lies are transparent and it is not too difficult to read between the lines to acknowledge the truth. According to Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, there are many subcategories. These include deflection, omission, delusions, stereotypes, dismissal and more. Many of these are present in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. As portrayed in the play, lying can be a big deal because it can alter one’s decisions, causing confusion and other dangerous changes in the future. One character who tells many lies throughout Macbeth is Macbeth’s wife, Lady Macbeth. One type of lie she tells is delusion, defined by Ericsson as “the tendency to see excuses as facts” …show more content…
Stephanie Ericsson claims, “Dismissing feelings, perceptions, or even the raw facts of a situation ranks as a kind of lie that can do as much damage to a person as any other kind of lie” (414). After Macbeth slew Duncan, Lady Macbeth reassured, “A little water clears us of this deed” (II, ii, 86). By saying this, she is dismissing the fact that she and her husband just plotted and killed the king of Scotland and making it seem like an everyday ordeal. She also stated, “Consider it not so deeply” (II, ii, 41). The way she says this is similar to saying “No big deal.” This displays dismissal because she is pushing the horror of the crime out of her own mind, making herself believe it was …show more content…
Lady Macbeth is a character who lies quite frequently which allows for strong consequences including a husband with blood lust and a loss of sanity. Evidently, Lady Macbeth’s lies were more harmful than helpful; however, can some lies be more beneficial? Maybe lying to protect someone or to save their feelings would not be so wrong. Then again, maybe it would. Out-and-out lies are described by Ericsson as a type of lie that “doesn’t try to refashion reality, it tries to refute it” (413) and deflecting is when one deflects attention from something they choose to hide by not bringing it up (411). Are these types of lies just as harmful to the decisions of others as dismissal and delusion were to Lady Macbeth, or are they no different? As shown in Macbeth, lying is not something to play with because the outcome never seems to work as
Similarities Between The Great Gatsby And Just South Of The Unicorns
696 Words | 3 PagesBelief in the future is a strong running theme of Macbeth, The Great Gatsby, and Just South of the Unicorns, it motivates the protagonists to take drastic measures to ensure that the future that they have yearned for comes true, regardless of the consequences of their actions. The ability to have to have strong belief in the what has yet to come that Andy, Gatsby, and Macbeth possess can be an extraordinarily helpful trait; however the parts of the texts also represent the horribly lonely life that can result. This essay will compare the influence of belief of the future in each text, and the way the author chooses to approach and express it. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, represents the harsh reality that comes with such a belief as strong as Gatsby’s, and the small amount of euphoria that it provides.
Rhetorical Analysis Of The Ways We Lie
1285 Words | 6 PagesNicholas Martin Ms.Williams English 111 D-35 14 December 2015 The Allure Of Lying Stephanie Ericsson is an American screenwriter and author, Ericsson’s piece “The Ways We Lie” (1993) uses classification to display different types of lies people use and the way lies affect people. Richard Gunderman is a doctor and professor at Indiana University, Gundermans essay “Is Lying Bad For Us?” (2013) uses a broad and casual view to support the claim that lying affects people's health. The classification that Ericsson uses in its entirety is a collection of short personal allusions describing a few of the many types of lying, this method is not the best way to persuade someone that lying is unacceptable.
Dishonesty In The Crucible
777 Words | 4 PagesIn the real world, however, white lies can benefit your social life instead of hinder it. Ultimately, in my experience, lying is not that good unless it’s to cushion the blow of anything. In Acts 1 and 2 of The Crucible, people are often motivated to be dishonest because they do not want to suffer. In Act 1, Tituba lies because she does not want to be hung for her.
White Lies In The Crucible
441 Words | 2 PagesLying can be someone’s safe haven but also their downfall. Within different circumstances, I see no harm in telling lies that benefit you in a way, but if someone is causing harm to another, I do not support lying at any instinct. If a person chooses to lie that is up to them but there is always another lie to cover up the one they just
Stephanie Ericsson The Way We Lie Analysis
539 Words | 3 PagesThe effect of the lies we tell can lead to a confrontation. We try desperately to avoid this, however, when the lies keep building up, and no one is communicating sooner or later someone is going to confront the matter. The argument might be ten times worse now than if someone had tried to fix it at the beginning. Second, we spare people's feelings. For example, Ericsson used a story about a man who died in Vietnam but the sergeant told his family he was missing.
Lady Macbeth Disturbed Character Analysis
1503 Words | 7 PagesShakespeare, like any other man in the 16th and 17th century, saw ambitious and dominant women as evil and even disturbing or disturbed. From Macbeth, we can see Shakespeare feels women should be challenged and punished because they are trying to change society. Nowadays these ambitious and dominant women are regarded as brave and respected because of their ambition, such as Lady Macbeth’s ambition to become Queen. Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as mentally disturbed.
Is Lying Okay In Night By Elie Wiesel
571 Words | 3 PagesIt may make someone life easier for a moment, but overall there could not be good results coming from a lie. Simply because it could hurt others or destroy relationships, make them feel guilty about lying or even hurt someone’s mental state, and it could cause them to lie repeatedly. The first reason that lying is not okay is because, lying can destroy relationships or even hurt others. Most relationships
Stephanie Ericsson The Way We Lie Summary
938 Words | 4 PagesIn “The Way We Lie”, author Stephanie Ericsson gives her readers a list of ten lie we sometime use it for a purpose and sometime we did not realize we did it. She starts out her story with four lie she used in the same morning as she is starting out her day. She explains these lie are intentionally use to minimize the complications and make the day goes much smoother. However, she questions whether these lie can actually make an impact on the person who carry out and the person who receive the lie.
Deceiving Motifs In Macbeth
848 Words | 4 PagesHe wonders if “all great Neptune’s ocean [will] wash this blood/clean from [his] hand” (2.2.78-9). Macbeth knows what he has done is wrong and he is shaken by his actions. Back then killing on the battlefield was much more respected than cowardly murder on a defenseless opponent. There was a purpose to fighting for an individual’s own country and brave soldiers were very highly revered. Macbeth is seen as this gallant and fearless warrior at the beginning of the play by his captains as they describe how “he unseamed [the enemy] from the nave to th’ chops” (1.2.24).
How Does Shakespeare Use Deception In Macbeth
839 Words | 4 PagesMany of the characters in Macbeth use deception to persuade others to do things they want done. Most times these deeds are bad and in the end come back to haunt the characters. Throughout the whole play, Shakespeare uses the theme of deception to create tension, and scandals. These acts of deception will be the falling of many characters and also one of the main themes of the play. In acts one and two, the use of deception is demonstrated.
New York Times Article: Are These 10 Lies Justified?
1115 Words | 5 PagesWe both recognize the lasting impact lies can have, but I see some of those impacts can be beneficial. The emotions felt by dementia patients are real; when the son tells his father that he will be back tomorrow then he is comforted by that thought. If a father is agitated that his son is leaving then those emotions can be difficult and unhealthy for both parties. On the other hand, the emotions felt when someone realizes they have been lied to can also be extremely difficult. We can find compromise in the use of positive redirections that are sensitive toward the patients’ individual needs.
Macbeth And Medea Analysis
1655 Words | 7 PagesManipulation is a recurring theme in Macbeth because whenever Macbeth shows signs of weakness, Lady Macbeth undermines his manhood. Lady Macbeth’s actions portray her as strong and evil rather than nurturing and good. Lady Macbeth’s character exemplifies the complete opposite of social expectations during the Elizabethan era. By being able to manipulate her husband, Lady Macbeth is also seen as being a stronger character than Macbeth. Conclusively, Lady Macbeth’s actions portray Shakespeare’s exploration of gender roles, and his evaluation of
The Ambition Of Women In Lady Macbeth By William Shakespeare
1481 Words | 6 PagesThroughout history, it is a fact that the roles of women and men in relationships have often been debated. Although men are often regarded as the power source in relationships and responsible for being strong, there are countless examples of women themselves being the driving force rather than their male counterparts. This is not only present within the story of Adam and Eve where Eve is the figure who convinces Adam to eat the forbidden fruit and thus commit original sin, but also in the character Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In Macbeth Lady Macbeth is stronger than her husband Macbeth for a variety of reasons. Lady Macbeth is first off extremely manipulative and uses her ambition to push her husband who is weak and easily swayed
Lies In The Kite Runner
926 Words | 4 PagesMany people have told lies and been told lies ,however the biggest lie of all is lying to oneself. Everyone has been told to share the truth because even though the truth will hurt others now, a carried out lie will hurt them a lot more in the future. It 's better to do right than to live in lies such as don 't hide all your faults they won 't just go away, you need to learn from your mistakes. In Les Miserables and The Kite Runner a man 's reputation is not as important as his family. As in giving up yourself for another and to be happy, like leaving your homeland where you are known and in charge to become a working man and make your family happy.
King Lear Theme Of Deception
1019 Words | 5 PagesAre all pretenses evil? In King Lear, William Shakespeare explores the theme of deception and its various kinds. Hungry for flattering words, King Lear tests the love of his three daughters by asking them to describe how much they love him. The winner would get the largest portion of his kingdom. Eager for land and power, Goneril and Regan try to do outdo each other in proving their love for Lear through empty declarations of love.
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